Placement API

Placement API is an API and hosted MCP server that gives AI agents and SEO tools access to backlink placement research and purchasing. Agents can search publishers from 10 suppliers, compare supplier prices for the same domain, turn a brief into a priced link plan, and place and track orders through one integration.

It is infrastructure for agents rather than a standalone agent. You connect it to Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, or another MCP host, or call the REST API from your own product. Searching the catalogue and signing up are free, while purchases are paid with prepaid credits on a key that has ordering permission.

What Is Placement API?

Placement API aggregates link placement inventory, such as guest posts, link insertions, niche edits, and homepage links, from third-party marketplaces into one catalogue with a single balance and invoice. The same domain often appears in several supplier catalogues at different prices, so Placement API shows those offers side by side and routes to the lowest available price.

Every domain is also screened independently. Placement API checks domains against five tests using search traffic, ranking keywords, backlink signals, and the public web graph. Domains whose authority is not backed by organic search presence are flagged as suspect and left out of generated plans by default. The service is operated by Future Bets, Inc.

How Placement API Works

A user creates a free account and gets an API key. A read-only key can search placements, compare domains, and build plans. Posting a brief with criteria such as topic, authority, budget, and number of links returns a priced plan of named domains, each with a short reason it was picked, and the quoted prices are held for four hours.

Buying requires a separate key with the order scope. Orders are charged at the held price inside per-order and daily spending caps that are enforced server-side, and required idempotency keys stop a retried request from charging twice. Orders go to suppliers in a daily batch and can be cancelled for a full refund until then. After delivery, links are re-checked for up to a year for presence, dofollow status, and the agreed anchor text.

The hosted MCP server at api.placementapi.com/mcp exposes 20 tools over Streamable HTTP, with nothing to install. The five tools that can spend money only appear on keys with the order scope, so a read-only key left in a chat session cannot buy anything. A typed TypeScript client is published on npm and GitHub.

Key Features

• Cross-supplier search: Search placements by topic, authority, traffic, price, geography, and language across 10 suppliers, deduplicated by domain.
• Price comparison: See every listing for one domain, cheapest first, with the price spread and an authority verdict.
• Link planning: Turn a brief and budget into a costed basket of domains, with a reason for every line and prices held for four hours.
• Independent domain screening: Flag domains that fail five quality tests and exclude them from plans by default.
• Spending controls: Use read-only keys for research, separate order keys for purchasing, and per-order and daily caps enforced in the database.
• Ordering and delivery tracking: Place orders, submit or request articles, set up standing orders, and track delivery and later link checks in the same integration.
• SEO research tools: Review a page’s backlink profile, competitor link gaps, keyword winners, and, with Google Search Console connected, pages that a link could help.
• MCP and REST access: Connect through a hosted MCP server with 20 tools or a REST API with an OpenAPI schema and a TypeScript client.

Placement API Use Cases

• Let an AI agent move from an SEO audit to a priced backlink plan and approved purchases
• Compare what different marketplaces charge for a placement on the same domain
• Filter out publishers with inflated authority metrics before spending a link budget
• Manage link purchases across client campaigns with one balance, one invoice, and a shared order history
• Add placement discovery and purchasing to an SEO software product through an API

Who Is Placement API For?

Placement API is for SEO agencies, SEO software teams, and teams using AI agents for link building. It suits buyers who want to research and purchase backlinks programmatically, compare suppliers without checking each catalogue, and give an agent purchasing access while keeping firm limits on what it can spend.

Placement API Pricing

Signing up, getting an API key, and searching the catalogue are free. Reads are rate limited, with a monthly read allowance that grows with the credits purchased. There is no subscription. Placements are paid for with prepaid credits, where one credit equals one US cent, at the price shown on the quote.

Placement prices depend on the publisher, placement type, and topic. Placement API’s own pricing page lists a median placement price of around $150 across its catalogue at the time of listing. Having an article written for an order costs a flat 1,500 credits. Unspent purchased credits do not expire and can be refunded in cash within 90 days of the top-up, less a 5% handling charge. Placement API also returns a share of supplier volume discounts to buyers as credits after delivery.

Limitations

Placement API is a purchasing tool, not a guarantee of results. Its terms state that it does not promise rankings, and buying links carries risk under the guidelines of major search engines, which buyers have to judge for themselves. Domain metrics are estimates, and a legitimate site can be flagged by the quality screening.

Suppliers are never identified, so buyers cannot see which marketplace fulfils an order. Credits are charged when an order is placed, and once an order has reached a supplier, refunds for undelivered work depend on recovering the funds from that supplier. The service itself is not open source; only the TypeScript client and MCP manifest are public under the MIT license.